Flawed ARC Review

The Scarlet Letter meets Divergent in this thoughtful and thrilling novel by bestselling author Cecelia Ahern.

Celestine North lives a perfect life. She’s a model daughter and sister, she’s well-liked by her classmates and teachers, and she’s dating the impossibly charming Art Crevan.

But then Celestine encounters a situation where she makes an instinctive decision. She breaks a rule. And now faces life-changing repercussions.

She could be imprisoned. She could be branded. She could be found FLAWED.

In her breathtaking young adult debut, bestselling author Cecelia Ahern depicts a society where obedience is paramount and rebellion is punished. And where one young woman decides to take a stand that could cost her-everything.

I received this book as an ARC to review from Lovereading but this has not affected my review in any way. All opinions and views are completely my own.

About 3 years ago, I along with loads of others was absolutely obsessed with dystopia and read every YA dystopian novel I could get my hands on. I eagerly devoured them all, until I got to the point where I felt like they were all the same. The same evil government that everyone trusts is defeated the same one brave rebellious teen. I’m so glad to say Flawed wasn’t like that at all. It managed to incorporate some of the best elements of other great dystopians whilst putting a fresh spin on the genre. It had the chance of becoming a cliché but thankfully it didn’t and was instead a great read.

This novel had not only a great and intriguing plot, but a powerful message. It makes you question what is it that makes us human? How do our mistakes define us? And what qualifies as a flaw?

I adored the great cast of characters. They all had reasons and motivations behind their actions, even if I didn’t agree them, which goes to show how carefully Cecelia Ahern thought about each character and how they were all properly fleshed out. Speaking of characters, I just have to mention Celestine, our main character. She was a fab heroine because she didn’t mean to be. She struggled between right and wrong and in the end didn’t let society dictate her actions but instead just made the decision she felt was right in her heart. She didn’t want to be a rebel – far from it, she felt her life was perfect beforehand. And that is why I admire her. She didn’t try to be brave, it just happened because she wasn’t willing to stand by and let bad things happen.

This novel also has very little to no romantic subplot which I really enjoyed, because let’s be realistic whilst fighting an evil government, a girl doesn’t have time to fall in love. However the way the novel is written, there is definitely the potential in the next book and I’m quite pleased about that because I like the love interest. I’m definitely interested to see where that goes in the future.

Another thing I thought was a good change about this book was that the heroine was left irreversibly scarred which is often something authors are reluctant to do because everyone prefers a pretty girl, right? So good on Cecelia Ahern for that!

Overall it was a gripping read that I just couldn’t put down. It left me with lots of questions and I can’t wait for the next book!

The point you make about Celestine being scarred is so true! That does make me quite happy with Cecelia Ahern. I’m glad I finally get to read your review since I couldn’t until I finished it 😉 I’m so glad you enjoyed it! It was an ok read for me, but I think I wished for something a bit different with the beginning? It was a bit too slow and introspective for me, but then the story did really pick up. I’m actually quite interested in what she’s going to do with the second book!
Great review!